British National Party

The modern British National Party, commonly known as the BNP, was founded in 1982 by John Tyndall, a former chairman of the National Front. The current National Chairman, Nick Griffin, joined the BNP in 1995, and replaced Tyndall after a leadership election to become leader in 1999. He was also a previous chairman of the National Front and spent time as an activist whilst reading law at Downing College, University of Cambridge.

Tyndall was expelled from the BNP in 2003. The reasons for this mainly related to articles published in his magazine, Spearhead, which were highly critical of the BNP leadership. It was also believed that his often 'extremist' views did not tally with contemporary party policies. However, Tyndall was readmitted to the party in December 2003, after an out of court settlement with Nick Griffin.

In 1998, before he was chairman of the BNP, Griffin was convicted of violating section 19 of the Public Order Act 1986, relating to incitement to racial hatred. He received a nine-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, and was fined ï¿½2,300.

In recent years the BNP has reflected many aspects of a concept known as Euronationalism. This is a pattern of emphasis and presentation of policies that has been adopted by a number of far-right parties in Europe. It is often cited as a factor in their increased electoral successes of the 1990s.

Policies
According to the BNP's website the party's policies include:


 * The BNP claims that "On current demographic trends, we, the native British people will be an ethnic minority in our own country within sixty years". To remedy this the party calls for an immediate halt to all further immigration. And the introduction of a system of "voluntary resettlement" whereby immigrants already here will be given financial incentives to return to their "lands of ethnic origin".
 * The party also pledges to abolish positive discrimination, which the party claims "have made white Britons second-class citizens".
 * The party seeks to withdraw from the European Union, and persue protectionist economic measures, to "aim towards greater national self-sufficiency".
 * The BNP pledges to restore corporal punishment for "petty criminals and vandals" and restore capital punishment for "paedophiles, terrorists and murderers".

Other policies include the promotion of organic farming, and ending foreign aid.

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